To estimate the position of street theater in the
society we must start our calculation from a basic premise that it is a
Revolution in itself. What not it can do for the society? Street theater as the
name suggests is performed on streets or more so in public places such as
public parks, shopping malls, play grounds etc. Main motive of a street play is
to give a social message in a way which makes an impact on the ideology
and emotions of the audience. The message is meant to be disseminated strongly
in a way which could convince the audience. Issues tackled by street plays are
like corruption, poverty, gender discrimination and many more.
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| Moloyashree Hashmi of jana natya manch doing a street play in the lanes of New Delhi
Photo Credits- www.dawn.com
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A basic street play would consist of songs,
acting, intense or comic scenes and some facts to support the theme. These
elements make the art piece very colorful which attracts people and it
consists of a social message thus the message reaches the masses in an
interesting way. Well a social message or information can reach you in many
forms, by newspapers, television or books but it would not have the impact
which a play gives, further a street play is an innovative step to enlighten an
illiterate section of a society. One does not need to know how to read or write
to watch a street play as even the language used is simplified.
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Street theater "Corruption" directed by Arvind Gaur
being performed at Indian Habitat Center
Photo Credits- indiantheatre.blogspot.com
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Delhi University is famous for its street
plays. Different colleges have different plays which they usually perform at
other colleges rather than a public place. It is very rare that college
students perform at public places thus any other age group is devoid of such
beautiful pieces of art .These plays are normally performed to win
competitions. On the contrary there are some professional theaters groups which
perform with the sole motive to put across an idea or message which make
people rack their brains and re-question their beliefs and if one is
following a bad thought they do the just thing hence. One such group is the
Asmita theater group which is involved in street theater and since its
inception in 1993 has performed 25 street play productions under the direction
of Mr. Arvind Gaur.
Though a street play is not as grand as other
art forms but it does give an unique blend of songs and facts where the
performers are dressed uniformly and are dancing away to Impart us some
wisdom. This art should be promoted among students and at professional level
via which awareness would reach every nook of the country. May it be rural or
urban, well off or economically backward all sections of society should be
catered and make street theater major element to tackle social problems.
Devansha Sanan
(Maharaja Agrasen College,
University Of Delhi)
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